User input selection in electronic game systems (such as arcade games, computer games and video games) involves making startup decisions, such as which of the available games to play, which role to play, which car to use in a racing game, which weapon to use in a fighting game, etc.
User input selection in electronic games has historically involved numerous input devices and software-driven user interfaces. Input devices have included joystick controls and selection buttons, mice, and hand-held controllers. The software-driven user interfaces have primarily involved selections made by moving a selection point or area two-dimensionally on a display screen and by pushing the appropriate button when the desired selection is indicated.
Most prior art methods of menu selection in traditional electronic games can also be employed in a multimedia or immersive virtual reality electronic gaming system. However, such gaming systems make available unique forms of user experience and interaction. Multimedia systems, on the one hand, employ additional communicative and interactive media, and immersive virtual reality systems, on the other hand, put the user in the situation wherein he or she sees the game's display three-dimensionally, from the point of view of being within, and being free to move about in, a virtual world.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide methods for selecting among game playing options which take advantage of the new forms of presentation and user interaction in multimedia and immersive virtual reality game systems.